Northern Holland's legendary TT Circuit Assen hosted round three of the 2014 Superbike World Championship this past weekend. As predicted, weather played a starring role in Sunday's double-header, beginning with rain-shortened qualifying one day earlier. Expecting showers, Kawasaki's Loris Baz began the session on soft rubber.
“We’ve been fast all weekend, but I was struggling to find the last two or three tenths,” Baz said after his first career Superpole win. “In the first lap, we found six, so that was fantastic.” Fellow Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli was the only rider to get within a half second of Baz, whose teammate, Tom Sykes, completed the front row.
Race 1 was declared “dry,” meaning the 21-lapper would run flag-to-flag. Just off line, though, wet patches and even puddles were visible. Former World Supersport Champion Fabien Foret crashed on the sighting lap. Others would follow his lead.
Guintoli got the holeshot ahead of Pata Honda's Jonathan Rea, Sykes, Baz, and Marco Melandri on a second factory Aprilia. Davide Giugliano was first to fall, mowing a muddy stripe with his Ducati through the Dutch countryside. With Guintoli streaking away, Sykes aggressively slipped under Rea, but he ran wide on lap 4 and had to re-start his charge from fourth.
With five laps to go, Sykes had cut Guintoli's lead to just over a second when Geoff May's Erik Buell Racing 1190RX blew up. The race was immediately red-flagged. "I took a lot of risks in the first laps," Guintoli said after his win. "Tom was coming back, and I was trying my best to stay away." Rea finished third.
The second EBR, ridden by fellow American Aaron Yates, had also popped, prompting the team to pull the plug for the weekend. "With the double technical failure," said team manager Giulio Bardi, "we will not participate in race 2 later today. We need to fully understand and rectify the problem so that we can continue to move forward."
Conditions for Race 2 were trickier, making tire selection a crapshoot. Would the best choice for the damp track be full wets, intermediates, or slicks? Once again, the race was declared dry, and the frontrunners chose slicks. On the warm-up lap, many riders were seen dragging their boots on the ground to see what kind of traction to expect. Spectator umbrellas were in full bloom around the circuit.
Start delayed! Nine of the top 10 qualifiers were in their grid spots ready to race, but much of the latter half of the field had pitted to swap tires. Within seconds, riders and team members were frantically pushing the remaining machines back to their respective garages for full wets, as well as other changes. Race distance was cut to 15 laps.
When the lights went out, the start was a repeat of race 1: Guintoli, Rea, Sykes, and Baz—who promptly went backward. By the fourth lap, Guintoli had a three-second lead over Rea in worsening conditions. Crossing start/finish, Guintoli raised his hand, and the race was red-flagged.
After a long delay, the riders returned to the grid, again with wet setups, for a 10-lap restart. Rea took the lead from Sykes, followed by the Aprilias of Guintoli and Melandri. Guintoli highsided chasing Rea but was able to rejoin in 18th.
At the checkers, Rea held off flying Suzuki-mounted Alex Lowes (who set the three fastest laps of the race) and Giugliano. Melandri and Sykes were fourth and fifth, respectively. Seven riders, including 13-time SBK race-winner Eugene Laverty, crashed out. After the race, Rea said, "The hardest part was waiting in the garage for the delays." Sykes, Guintoli, and Baz lead the points.
During the race weekend, SBK officials announced Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit will host the sixth round of the championship. Next stop, however, is another classic European track: Italy’s Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known simply as Imola.